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Since 2002, OzTREKK has helped send hundreds of Canadian students to Australia for professional degrees. Our mission is simple: To prepare students for a first-class international educational experience in Australia. We are experts in the Australian university education and we will assist you at every stage—from application to arrival—so that nothing is forgotten. OzTREKK is your Canadian connection to study in Australia!

Efforts to control plant diseases which contribute significantly
to global hunger was the centerpiece of this year’s Sydney Science
Forum—a free public lecture—at the University of Sydney.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates two-thirds of the
world’s population are either underfed or starving, and plant diseases
play a major role in food shortages. Global loss of crops due to plant
disease is conservatively estimated to be between 10 and 30 percent.

Study agriculture at the University of Sydney

The University of Sydney's
Professor Robert Park is one of a team of scientists leading the charge
against cereal rust. His Oct. 15 lecture, “Rust Never Sleeps: Combating
Plant Rust Diseases to Protect Our Food Supplies,” outlined the
magnitude of damage caused by cereal rust diseases, the implications of
their rampant spread and what needs to be done to control them.

Rust diseases are caused by fungal pathogens which are among the most harmful pests in agriculture and horticulture. Characterised by rusty-coloured spores, they are a particularly high biosecurity threat.

According to Professor Park, their abundance in cereal plants is a
major concern as cereals are grown in greater quantities and provide
more food energy worldwide than any other crop. Wheat is the most widely
grown crop in the world, with demand expected to increase by 60 per
cent by 2050.

“Ironically, it’s their popularity as a food source that has imperilled them,” Professor Park said.
“We’ve been domesticating cereal plants for around 8,000 years and
our efforts to develop better yielding and disease resistant crops have
had the negative effect of guiding the evolution of crop pathogens.

“Such man-guided evolution has led to the emergence of new rust races, at times causing devastating epidemics.

Professor Park’s has been conducting Australia-wide analyses of
wheat, barley and oat rust pathogens for the last 25 years, most
recently looking at tackling cereal rusts through the development of
resistance genes. His research on the Australia-wide population genetics
of four major rusts in cereals has provided the basis for national
resistance breeding efforts for the past two decades. Genetic resistance
to rust diseases in wheat alone was estimated to save Australia more
than $1 billion AUD in 2009.

Professor Park is also involved in the global effort to tackle a new
race of stem rust, known as Ug99, which has emerged in several East
African countries in recent years. There is a high risk of Ug99
spreading across to India in the immediate future and scope for it to
even find its way to Australia.

Professor Park also discussed the work of his former colleague, Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug, during “Rust Never Sleeps.” Dr
Borlaug is known as the “Father of the Green Revolution” because of his
work to improve grain varieties. The Green Revolution helped double the
world’s food output from 1960 to 2000, doubling India’s wheat harvest
between 1965 and 1972.

Sydney Faculty of Agriculture and Environment

The faculty has access to some of the world’s best-equipped and
newest research facilities, including the Centre for Carbon, Water and
Food, and the world renowned Plant Breeding Institute. The faculty’s
substantial field stations in Australia include 1,200 hectares of
farmland, and house state-of-the-art research facilities with enviable
amenities for large-scale field studies in agricultural science, food science, environmental studies, ecology, bush-fire research and more.

The Master of Agriculture and Environment
is focused on providing students with the knowledge and skills
necessary to tackle and create solutions for our time in areas such as
food security, climate change, and management of carbon, water and the
environment within the changing complexity of global markets and world
economics.

If you have a degree in science, economics or related work experience
(accreditation subject to approval) the Master of Agriculture and
Environment is the degree for you. Students will gain important hands-on
experience, which is highly valued by employers in both the public and
private sectors. Within this articulated degree, students will complete a
research project that provides the opportunity to identify and address
critical and current problems and issues, and develop skills in project
management, effective communication and cross-disciplinary thinking. A
range of specialist streams is available to those wishing to target
specific areas of interest.

Program: Master of Agriculture and EnvironmentLocation: Camperdown Campus, Sydney, New South WalesDuration: 1.5 yearsSemester intakes: March 2015 and July 2015Application deadline: January 31, 2015 for the March
2015 intake; however, it is recommended that you apply as early as
possible in order to allow yourself time for the pre-departure process.

Admission requirements

A successful applicant for admission to this program will

(a) hold a relevant bachelor’s degree with a credit average or an equivalent qualification; or

(b) have completed the requirements for the award of the Graduate
Certificate in Agriculture and Environment from the University of Sydney
or equivalent qualification.

In exceptional circumstances the Dean may admit applicants without
these qualifications who, in the opinion of the faculty, have
qualifications and evidence of experience and achievement sufficient to
successfully undertake the award.

Graduate opportunities

Opportunities for skilled graduates are in growing fields such as
carbon, water and energy trading, food security, food futures,
ecohydrology, and sustainability, complementing recent developments in
catchment management, land rehabilitation and molecular science.
Graduates are employed in agribusiness and marketing firms, merchant
banks, commodity trading companies, environmental consultancies, and
scientific research organisations around the world, government
departments and the private sector.

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OzTREKK is a Canadian application and information centre for students considering studying at select Australian
universities. We’re a Canadian company based in Perth, Ontario, midway
between Ottawa and Toronto.

We offer a wide range of services, and it’s all free for you—we’re paid
by the Australian universities, because they recognize that we’re
experts in matching what they offer with what Canadian students need. In
fact, OzTREKK is the only representative in Canada operated by
Australians and Canadians and specializing solely in Australian universities.

If you apply to an Australian university through OzTREKK, you’ll benefit
from insider knowledge, save time researching, and get all your
questions answered. It’s that simple. Find out how you can study in Australia!